Filters for A95

[pandabean]

Hi,

Just wondering where can I get filters for a Canon PS A95 within the UK and at a cheap price?

Also I am kind of new to filters and was wondering if there was an explanation anywhere as to what they can do to photos.


Andy

[DavidW]

Most filters are obsolete with digital, as the effects they can create can be done later on the computer.

The notable exception is a polarising filter. This article (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/polarizers.shtml) should help. The other exceptions are graduated neutral density filters (which are really no use on a compact; the small sensor size means that you can't get a meaningful graduation across the sensor) and neutral density filters (which have more limited applications - the notable one is to get the 'ribbon of water' effect on flowing water).


You will need an adapter for your A95 to give you somewhere to screw in a filter. A quick search dug up a 52mm A95 adapter online (the size is the diameter of the filters that will fit - referred to as the filter size), though this supplier is in the United States - see here (http://www.lensmateonline.com/newsite/order_Aseries_1.html). If you hunt, you may well find a UK source. You'll then need your filter or filters, optionally plus a lens cap if you wish to leave the adapter mounted and fit a lens cap to protect your lens when you're not using the camera.

The problem is that quality polarisers are expensive (I paid nearly £110 for the one in my DSLR bag, though that's a top of the range B+W 77mm slim Kasemann circular polariser - the price has subsequently gone up to £120 including VAT). The adapter I linked to is for 52mm filters; a quality multicoated Hoya circular polariser in that size would be around £60 (and Robert White (http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/bwfilters.htm) want £61.10 plus shipping for a 52mm B+W Kasemann Circular Polariser MRC).


If you're just dabbling, you can get away with paying less. You may find an old linear polariser for very little money as they don't work with many modern cameras - they can disrupt the autofocus mechanisms used in SLRs and you should only use a circular polariser with an autofocus SLR. I don't believe this problem applies to your A95.

The 52mm size, if that's the adapter you land up with, isn't a common filter size for Canon SLR lenses (58mm and 77mm are the most common, though there are some other filter sizes used). That's another argument against spending too much on filters for your compact; you may find yourself with filters for which there's limited resale potential and which won't be any use on a DSLR outfit if you decide to buy a DSLR to go alongside your A95.


However, cheap polarisers can be awful - they can impart a colour cast to your picture, and uncoated or poorly coated filters can introduce optical artefacts caused by the reflections off the front or back of the filter. You really want a polariser mount to handle well, too, as you need to turn a polariser for the desired effect.


I think this is something to think about carefully. There's no doubt that a polarising filter has the potential to improve your pictures. However, you could land up paying somewhere in the region of £80 - hardly cheap - for an adapter and filter that isn't the easiest thing to use on a compact (the optical TTL viewfinder of an SLR makes using a polariser so much easier; trying to judge the effect on a compact's LCD screen can be tricky) and which you may not find yourself using that much. Maybe the money would be better saved towards other photographic purchases.



David

[pandabean]

You mention that you can do most of these in PS. I know there are photo filters but how do you get things like the polarization effect etc? Are there additional plugins?

[DavidW]

The polariser is the one filter you can't easily replicate in Photoshop; you can darken the sky, but you can't kill reflections. Graduated ND filters can only be replicated to some extent; the techniques in Photoshop either require multiple exposures or won't give you full dynamic range (especially on a camera with no RAW capability). There's also no way to replicate the long shutter times available using a solid ND filter; the limit in camera without an ND filter is the longest shutter time you can manage with the settings available without overexposing the shot.



David